Out of the four Warre bee hives and two Horizontal Bee hives we currently run I believe we will remove truly excess honey from two of the Warre Bee hives. The other hives we will leave undisturbed.
However one of the Warries (new colony this year) is currently looking low on stores; I am trusting in a good autumn to avoid the emergency requirement for feeding.
To remove the honey I am going to use a bee escape, this time of triangular design and inset below the top box only. In theory the bees will return to the queen / broad nest leaving the top box of excess honey relatively free of bees, making honey harvesting easier and less stressful for the bees and I hope the beekeeper.
As I recently discussed via email with a fellow beekeeper, I recommend inserting the bee escape the day before harvesting, checking the weather so you’re pretty certain you know this is going to happen.
If you find when you open the top Warre bee hive box you have a lot of bees I suggest you gently remove the bee escape and leave the hive undisturbed.
The reason for this is that possibly the queen was actually in the top box when you inserted the escape. I would generally leave the hive alone for two or three days before trying again.
Any questions on harvesting excess honey do please call.
Best wishes,
David
